Looking for vaguely Moorcockian title

[mellotronman]

Having taken the plunge and posted one 'lost novel' thread, here's another, read in the late '70s. Although it has a 'Moorcock' feel, I'm quite sure it isn't by him, having trawled through loads of plot synopses.

A young man, living with his family in the mountains, possibly in a pre-industrial society, goes off to war, full of dreams of glory. His commanding officer has an artificial larynx, making me wonder how accurate my 'pre-industrial society' memory actually is.

Years later, he returns to his homeland, to find it destroyed in the war. The one vital plot point that sticks in my mind is of him walking along a deserted beach and finding the skeletal remains of his CO, artificial larynx *still talking*, despite the death of its host. Funny how tiny plot points stick in the memory, isn't it?

Once again, any help gratefully received...

 

[mellotronman]

Two years later... Hah! Found it! Trawling through the e-version of Mark S. Geston's Out of the Mouth of the Dragon (1969), I finally find the 'artificial larynx' reference. The cover looks vaguely familiar, too, but I'm not sure that means anything. Now, given that I gave this away over thirty years ago, having clearly not liked it very much, what will I think of it now? I was in my late teens then and early fifties now - surely my reading tastes have matured in the intervening years? Even a little?

 

[HareBrain]

Thanks for the update -- I always find them interesting. (Not sure what that says about me ...)

 

[mellotronman]

I might even remember to say whether or not I thought it was any good second time around

 

[mellotronman]

Well, I read it, along with the other two titles in Geston's loose 'Wars' trilogy. It's actually pretty good, albeit slightly weird, but is the least good of the three, the other two being 'Lords of the Starship' (1st) and 'The Siege of Wonder' (3rd). Perhaps my tastes have matured. Slightly